Natasha Lomas
Writer
The Latest from Natasha Lomas
Sweden drops rape investigation into WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange
Sweden has dropped an investigation into WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, on allegations of suspected rape. In a statement today the country’s prosecution authority said the evidence has ̶
A 10-point plan to reboot the data industrial complex for the common good
A posthumous manifesto by Giovanni Buttarelli, who until his death this summer was Europe’s chief data protection regulator, seeks to join the dots of surveillance capitalism’s rapacious c
Microsoft announces changes to cloud contract terms following EU privacy probe
Chalk up another win for European data protection: Microsoft has announced changes to commercial cloud contracts following privacy concerns raised by European Union data protection authorities. The ch
Fertility startup Mojo wants to take the trial and error out of IVF
Fertility tech startup Mojo is coming out of stealth to announce a €1.7 million (~$1.8M) seed round of funding led by Nordic seed fund Inventure. Also participating are Doberman and Privilege Ventur
More layoffs at pivoting London ed tech startup pi-top
London ed tech startup pi-top has gone through another round of layoffs, TechCrunch has learned. Pi-top confirmed that eight jobs have been cut in the London office, saying the job losses resulted fro
PR pitch to Ola reveals the inner workings of UK ride-hailing politics
A UK PR firm pitching to run an account for Ola has proposed running a campaign to politicize ride-hailing as a tactic to shift regulations in its favor. The approach suggests that, despite the appear
Messaging app Wire confirms $8.2M raise, responds to privacy concerns after moving holding company to the US
Big changes are afoot for Wire, an enterprise-focused end-to-end encrypted messaging app and service that advertises itself as “the most secure collaboration platform”. In February, Wire q
Dutch court orders Facebook to ban celebrity crypto scam ads after another lawsuit
A Dutch court has ruled that Facebook can be required to use filter technologies to identify and pre-emptively take down fake ads linked to crypto currency scams that carry the image of a media person
Deliveroo launches food orders for pickup
Don’t Deliveroo . The U.K.-based on-demand food delivery service has expanded into not actually delivering orders by offering users a pickup option, called “Pickup,” as an alternativ
A chat about UK deep tech and spin-out success with Octopus Ventures
New research commissioned by UK VC firm Octopus Ventures has put a spotlight on which of the country’s higher education institutions are doing the most to support spin outs. The report compiles
Legislators from ten parliaments put the squeeze on Facebook
The third meeting of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and ‘Fake News’, a multi-nation body comprised of global legislators with concerns about the societal impacts of so
Glovo is opening a tech hub in Poland after gobbling a local food delivery rival
Barcelona-based on-demand delivery startup Glovo is beefing up its engineering capacity by opening a second tech hub, its first in Poland — with an initial plan to hire 40 additional engineers a
San Francisco smokes Juul’s hopes by voting to keep e-cigarette ban
Voters in San Francisco have resoundingly rejected an attempt to overturn a citywide ban on e-cigarettes by a margin of around 80:20. Reporting on the count in the Bay Area, CBS SF says at least 78 pe
UK drone register takes off
A U.K. drone registration scheme has opened ahead of the November 30 deadline for owners to register their devices. The U.K. government announced its intention to introduce a drone registration scheme
Twitter’s political ads ban is a distraction from the real problem with platforms
Sometimes it feels as if Internet platforms are turning everything upside down, from politics to publishing, culture to commerce, and of course swapping truth for lies. This week’s bizarro rever
Omio buys Rome2rio to build out its global travel aggregator business
Omio (née GoEuro) has acquired multimodal travel veteran Rome2rio as it works on building out a global travel aggregator business, having taken the decision to zoom out from its home market of Europe
Fem tech startup Inne takes the wraps off a hormone tracker and $8.8M in funding
Berlin-based fem tech startup Inne is coming out of stealth to announce an €8 million (~$8.8M) Series A and give the first glimpse of a hormone-tracking subscription product for fertility-tracking a
Facebook agrees to pay UK data watchdog’s Cambridge Analytica fine but settles without admitting liability
Facebook has reached a settlement with the U.K.’s data protection watchdog, the ICO, agreeing to pay in full a £500,000 (~$643K) fine following the latter’s investigating into the Cambrid
US search market needs a ‘choice screen’ remedy now, says DuckDuckGo
US regulators shouldn’t be sitting on their hands while the 50+ state, federal and congressional antitrust investigations of Google to grind along, search rival DuckDuckGo argues. It’s put
Github removes Tsunami Democràtic’s APK after a takedown order from Spain
Microsoft-owned Github has removed the APK of an app for organizing political protests in the autonomous community of Catalonia — acting on a court takedown request sent by Spain’s Guardia Civ